Hat expander



Dec 4, i951 Gi vLAsls HAT EXPANDER FiledJuly 25, 1949 sii.:

INVENTOR,

GEORGE VLASS ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 4, 1951 UNITED STATES PAT ENT OFFICE l HAT .EXPANDERlGeorge Vlasis, Milwaukee, Wis. Application July '1245, 1949, Serial o.106.512

Vinserted interiorly of the hat band and "which vengages the hat withoutwardly directed radial pressure. In this manner, the hat may beconveniently handled in the blocking, stretching or other renovatingoperations. The 'instant 'former preferably involves a four sectionconstruction, the outside periphery o'f the 'assembly 'providing asmooth oval contour capable of fitting the inside conguration of mosthats Without deformation thereof. In order to accommodate various sizedhats, and to be useful as a hat stretcher, the former is madeexpansible. vIn a construction of thisV type, however, it is highlydesirable that the ovularperipheral .form of the vise be maintained forall adjust'rnents.

It is the principal object-of this invention to provide equalizing guidemeans at the Yjuncture of the adjoining hat Yengaging sections .ot the hat expander which will positively insure that the ovular form assumed bythe hat .engagingsecf tions for one adjustment will be substantiallymaintained in each other yselected adjustment. It is a further object ofthe invention to provide an indicating means to facilitate theadjustment of the hat engaging sections to the proper and desired hatsize.

vide a hat expander which Will, by positive acetion, maintain andequalize hat engaging 'sections in relatively perfect rigid'ovalalignmentfor any selected and visibly indicated hat size.

Other objects will be more apparent upon an examination of the followingdisclosures.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of the hat expander, por' tions of the hatengaging sections being broken away to show details of the equalizingmecha- Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view .of the indicating mechanismwhich is incorporated Within the turnbuckle handle.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken ,along the line 3-3 of Fig. l. ly I Fig. 4 is a cross sectional vi'evv taken along the line 4-4 ofFig. 1. Y Y

Like parts are identified by the same referente characters throughout`the several views.

-45 degrees to the axis or" the turnbuckle;

2 The expansible former comprises a pair of en'd sections I and a pairof side sections II.` These hat engaging sections may be made of wood,plastic or metal or the like, and have their peripheral surfaces soshaped as vto present an oval hat engaging surface broken only at thejuncture of the sections with one another. The contiguous portions ofthe sections are 'imposi- ,y tively joined by equalizers shown generallyatV `l0 I2 and `which will be hereinafter described in more detail.

Two opposed section-s VIl! are provided vv'ith bores 9 in which areanchored axially Aaligned screws I and I6 which are held in place Withinthe bores 9 by pinsy I'I. Screws I5 `and I6 each bear oppositely pitchedthreads vand lare in complementary threaded engagement with interior-lythreaded turnbuckle handle I8., Manual rotation ofthe .turnbuckle handleI8 will result in longitudinal extension or retraction of the screws I5yand It?Y which motion is vimpar-ted to theend sections I0, and throughthe equalzers I2 to the lside sections Il. The 4equalizers I2 aredisposed obliquely -Wi-th respect to the vouter periphery of thesectionsat about forty-five degrees ment II of the expander. Thisstructureisidu-plicated at each corner of the expander, it being immaterial,obviously, which of the' .expander elements carries the' sleeve andwhich the bar.

.40 In any case, only the sleeve is visible to the oper#u ator betweenthe elements of theexpander. The axis vof relative telescopic movementbetween the bar and sleeve `of the equalizer is desirably, alL thoughnot necessarily, at ran angle Vof forty-live At this angle, the sectionsofthe expander tend to main-'- .tain their relative positions in allexpansion and contraction of the end elements Il).k Atan `angle greaterthan lforty-five degrees, the equalizers will tend to -increasejtherelative movement of the lateral elements II respecting the endYelements I0, whereas at an angle of less than fortyfive degrees, thelateral elements 'will `have .less relative movement than the end.elements inthe adjustment of the latter.

Thus, it is an object of the invention to pro- 35 the bottom 0f the-SOCKBG 25 0f the .lateral ele'- `and five-eighths (6%) It is thefunction of the equalizers not only to effect in and out movement of thelateral elements in correspondence with the in-and-out movement of theend elements, but to regularize the movementl of the side elements l land to prevent any of the elements from tipping or becoming misalignedrespecting the others. For this purpose, it might be assumed that thereshould be a tight iit between the sleeves 33 and the bars 38, but anunduly tight nt between these parts causes binding which tends toproduceirregularities of movement, rather than to prevent these. I havediscovered that by using the compression springs to supplement suchguidance as is provided by the relatively loose fit of the bars in thesleeves, great uniformity of movement is achieved with little or notendency of the parts to bind. Thus, when the hat size is beingenlarged, the spring 35, by pressure engagement with the end surface 33,will force the end and side sections apart in a uniform manner andprevent any binding of the slidable parts. As this action takes place atall four junction points of the side and end sections, a uniformequalization is effected. Also because of the use of the coil spring 35,clearances between the various sliding parts may be made smaller thanheretofore possible and thus a more rigid and accurate positioning maybe accomplished even at extended positions of the device.

In order that the operator may know at all times the exact hat size towhch the expander is adjusted, the following construction is desirablyemployed.

The screws l5 and l5 are axially bored at 2B and I9 (see Fig. 2)respectively. An indicator rod 2l is iixed in bore i3 but is permittedto slide freely in bore 2B. The turnbuckle handle i8 is provided withone or more apertures 22 whereby the operator may observe hat sizeindications which are engraved on the rod 2i as shown at '.313

in Fig. 1. It has been found convenient to make the pitch of the screwthreads such that one complete revolution of the turnbuckle handle i8will result in a concentric change of position of y the hat engagingsections equal to one hat size; hat sizes being accommodated rangingfrom six to seven and seveneighths (7 78).

From the foregoing description, it is seen that by the use of theillustrated equalizers, the relative alignment of the end and sidesections lil and Il is substantially constant for all hat sizepositions. This is accomplished by means of a novel structure andorganization of the equalizer elements whereby the adjacent hat engagingsections are under positive pressure produced bythe spring 35. Thisconstruction prevents misalignment of the various sections byeliminating binding between the equalizer elements and permits smallerclearances between such elements and thus produces a more accuratelyguided adjustment. In addition, these advantages are further enhanced bythe employment of a novel indicating device which enables the operatorto predetermine and select the proper alignment of the various sectionsto accommodate the size of hat about to undergo renovation.

I claim:

1. In a hat expander having a turnbuclrle including a pair of axiallyaligned and oppositely threaded screws having distal ends, an indicatorcomprising a calibrated rod fixed with respect to one of said screws,and a turnbuckle handle in complementary threaded engagement with eachof said screws, the turnbuckle handle having an internal bore in whichthe indicator rod is disposed and having a viewing aperture intermediateits ends through which the calibration of the indicator rod may beviewed.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the axially aligned screws are eachprovided with bores, and wherein the calibrated rod is xed in one ofsaid bores and axially slidable in the other of said bores.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein the rod has a ilattened portionintermediate its ends and upon which its calibrations appear.

4. The device of claim 1 in further combinationwith oppositely disposedexpander end sections to which the distal ends of said screws areanchored, and oppositely disposed side sections in expansible connectionwith said end sections.

5. Ina hat expander, the combination with end sections and side sectionshaving adjacent ends provided with axially aligned oblique bores, of asleeve xed in one 'of saidsections and having an end extendingtelescopically into the bore of the other, a bar fixed in said othersection and reciprocable telescopically in the sleeve, and a compressionspring within said sleeve and seated against said bar.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination with an endsection of a hat expander and a side section of a hat expander, said endsection and side section being each provided with axially alignedoblique bores Vof different diameters, the section having the bore oflarger diameter being provided with a shoulder and a bore of reducedcross section extending axially beyond said shoulder and to a greaterdepth into the section, a bar seated into said bore of reduced crosssection and extending appreciably into said bore of larger diameter, asleeve seated into the bore of smaller diameter and in which the bar istelescopically reciprocable, and a coil spring within said sleeve andbearing against said bar.

'7. In a hat expander, the combination of a turnbuckle having a nut andoppositely pitched internal threads at the end portions thereof, axiallyaligned screws having proximate ends in complementary threadedengagement with the turnbuckle and extending from either end thereof andhaving distal ends anchored in expander end sections whereby rotaryturning of the turnbuckle nut will cause the end sections to move towardand away from each other, expander side sections disposed between saidend sections and spaced therefrom, and equalizers spanning the spacesbetween end and side sections, whereby motion of the end sections isequally and uniformly transmitted from said end sections to said sidesections, causing them to move toward and away from each othercomplementary with like movement of the end sections, the adjacent endsof said end and side section being provided with axially aligned obliquebores and each equalizer comprising a sleeve xed in one of said boresand having an end extending telescopically into the other of said bores,a bar ixed in said other of said bores and reciprocable telescopicallyin the sleeve, and a compression spring within said sleeve and seatedagainst said bar.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein a size indicator comprising acalibrated rod is fixed in one of said turnbuckle screws and wherein theturnbuckle nut is provided with a viewing aperture through which thecalibrations of the rod may be viewed. Y

9. The device of claim '7 wherein the axially 5 6 aligned turnbucklescrews are each internally UNITED STATES PATENTS bored, and a.calibrated indicator rod is xed in Number Name Date one of said screwbores and movable in the other 1 903 912 Papadcpoulos Apr 18 1933 screwbore, the turnbuckle nut being provided 2075626 Schlesinger Mal.: 301937 with a viewing aperture through which the cali- 5 2434184 Vlass an6 1948 bration of the rod may be viewed.

GEORGE VLASIS. FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date REFERENCES CITED15,661 Great Britain 1885 The following references are of record in the10 le of this patent:

